Edward p



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDVARD P. VHITNEY, OF WESTEIELD, NEW YORK.

LOCK.

Speccation of Letters Patent N o. 29,929, dated September 4, 1860.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be itknown that I, EDWARD P. VHITNEY, of l/Vestlield, in the county ofChautauqua and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Locks; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reterence being had tothe annexed drawings, making a part ot this specification, in whichhFigure 1 is a section of a lock with my invention applied to it andtaken in the line a, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 a section of the same taken in theline Fig. 1. Fig. 3 a section of the same taken in the line r, Fig. 1.Figs. A, 5, and 6, are detached views of a modification of my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corn responding parts in theseveral figures.

The object of this invention is to render locks and latches capable ofbeing reversed so that one and the same lock or latch may, without beinginverted, be applied to a right or left hand door.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents the case of a lock. B, its bolt. These parts may beconstructed in the usual way and therefore they do not require to beminutely described.

C, is the latch the outer end or head a, of which is provided with abezel b, as usual. The outer end a, of the latch projects outside of thecase and it is thicker than the shank c, or the portion that is withinthe case. The shank or thin portion c, of the latch is connected withthe head a, centrally so that a shoulder (Z, of equal width will be ateach side of the shank c, at its junction with the head a, as shownclearly in Fig. 8.

The inner end of the shank `c, of the latchl is forked or divaricated soas to encompass a hub D, through which the knob arbor passes, and eachprong e, of the Jfork is provided at each side with a projection f, atright angles, against which the projections g, of the hub D, act. Theends of the prongs e, are bent or hooked as shown in Fig. 1.

At each side of the shank c, and adjoining the head a, of the latchthere is a pro jection d, and against the one at t-he inner side of theshank e, a spring 72 bears-said spring having a tendency to keep thehead a, of the latch out from the case A.

In consequence of having the shank c, of the latch connected centrallywith its head a, and having projections d, f, at both sides of it, thelatch may be reversed in its case A, as the spring, It, will act againsteither projections d, and the projections g of the hub D, act againsteither of the projections f. In order therefore to reverse the positionof the latch C, which is shown in a leithand lock in Figs. 1 and 3, andconvert said lock into a right-hand one, all that is required is toreverse the latch C, so that its inner side will become its front sideand the bezel be at the inner instead of at the Outer side of t-he headal, as shown in red Fig. 8.

In order to etiect the above result it is not essential thatproject-ions j", be on the prongs e, of the latch. Projections may be onthe hub D. as shown at z', in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, the hooks j, at theends of the prongs 7c, catching over the projections z". Thisarrangement would admit: of the reversing of the latch equally as wellas the former one.

This invent-ion will not augment the cost of construction of locks andlatches while it will be the means of avoiding much embarrassment in thepurchasing of them, as at present the way in which the doors of abuilding are hung require to be carefully noted before obtaining thelocks in order that the proper number of right and left hand ones beprocured.

I am aware that latches have been provided with reversible or swivelheads a, in order that the bezels may be brought at either side of thelatch, but, this arrangement has never been adopted as it increased thecost of manufacture and the parts were liable to get out of repair.

I-Iaving thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is- The construction of the latch C, withdouble projections cl, and 7, so that the lock may be used as a right orleft hand lock, as desired, by merely turning the latch C, all as hereinshown and described.

EDVVD. P. WHITNEY.

Witnesses:

M. M. LIVINGSTON, C. HUGHES.

